Orange rain warning in place for Dublin and Wicklow as weather causes major rail delays and flooded roads

Residents and businesses in Midleton, Co Cork, got some respite on Friday when peak tide passed without causing further flooding.

Niall Healy, Cork County Council director of services for roads, said earlier in the day that residents in the Woodland housing estate in particular, where a number of homes had already been evacuated, should be on high alert amid fears the Owenacurra River would burst its banks again during high tide.

While the river did burst its banks in some places, it was not as bad as on Wednesday, allowing businesses and homeowners continue the clean up after initial floods from Storm Babet.

Meanwhile fresh weather warnings were issued by Met Éireann on Friday with a status orange rain warning issued for Dublin and Wicklow.

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Spells of heavy rain, with local flooding, dangerous driving conditions and poor visibility are forecast under the warning, which is in place until 8am on Saturday.

A status yellow rain warning is in place for two other counties - Louth and Meath - until 9pm on Friday.

A yellow rain warning has also been issued for Northern Ireland by the UK Met Office, lapsing at 9am on Saturday.

Meteorologist Linda Hughes of Met Éireann said rain would spread into the southwest on Friday evening and areas already been impacted by flooding would see more rain. But the highest accumulations are expected in Dublin and Wicklow, particularly in south county Dublin and across all of Wicklow.

“We have been seeing accumulations of over 20mm in some areas already but as that rain continues through this evening and overnight those accumulations will build causing some flooding,” she said shortly before 5pm.

On Friday evening Irish Rail was reporting some delays and line congestion on the east coast.

In a series of social media posts, it noted numerous delays caused by clogged lines, signalling failures and flooding.

After 6pm users of north and southbound Darts in Dublin were told to expect delays of about an hour and a half due to weather-related signalling issues.

Northern commuters were experiencing delays of up to 35 mins.

The Belfast-Connolly service was more than 40 minutes behind having become stuck at Drogheda due to flooding on the line at a number of locations, it said. The Connolly-Rosslare service was operating an hour and a half behind schedule.

Dublin City Council raised the flood gates on the River Dodder, but has not had to deploy sandbags to hold back flood waters at any location, a spokeswoman said.

“Dublin City Council’s Flood Assessment Group has met and additional crews will be assigned to deal with any flooding issues that may arise.” Contingency sandbags are in reserve, but major flooding is not anticipated, she said, although the situation is being kept under constant review.

Fingal County Council is asking drivers not to make unnecessary journeys “as some roads are passable with difficulty as a result of the heavy rainfall”.

Later the R129 was declared impassable between Ballyboughal and Blakes Cross, as was Brook Lane in Rush.

The Blakestown Road across from St Peregrines GAA club was also flooded as well as Balcultry Lane in Rolestown. Fingal County Council dispatched crews to deal with flooding on Baskin Lane.

South Dublin County Council notified residents of heavy flooding on the Kilteel Road, leading to its closure. Crews were handling deteriorating situations on the N81 at Woodies.

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council said a wind, wave and tide combination had led to overtopping issues along its coast and appealed to people to stay away from the coast and harbours.

The Dublin Region Homeless Executive said it has activated additional cold weather beds. “We encourage anyone that may require emergency accommodation tonight to contact their local authority this afternoon. In addition, Focus Coffee Shop are extending their opening hours until 10pm and Merchants Quay will be extending their opening hours to 9pm.”

[ Climate change: Are forecast warnings for weather events fit for purpose? ]

In Cork, Mr Healy said there had been significant damage to the road infrastructure right across the county following the storm.

[ Why was the Storm Babet flooding so bad? ]

Speaking in Rome, President Michael D Higgins said the floods that inundated parts of Cork have revealed Ireland’s lack of protection against climate change.

“We see people who have spent all of their lives looking after their house, looking after their neighbours, and they’re just devastated,” he told reporters.

“I think it’s very important to realise as well, from a government policy point of view, and no doubt government is considering this, that whatever protections they had were insufficient,” he added.

“We’re now in circumstances where the consequences of climate change ... are ones that are going to be visited on us again.”

President Higgins was speaking after he delivered a speech on climate change at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in which he urged the audience to work towards a world that is “resilient to the climate change that is already occurring”.

He said climate change was driving food insecurity and migration, and the world’s wealthiest countries had not done enough to address it. “We have had so many broken promises,” he said.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, he said Ireland had taken some steps but was lagging behind in its responsibility to counter climate change. “We’ve done good things. For example, I think that the climate change response responsibilities in different government departments, given a specific person, these are good decisions,” he said.

“We’re not doing well enough, we need to improve our performance.”

Speaking about the people affected by the floods, he said: “my wish as president is that they will get every assistance that is needed and beyond, to enable them to restore their community.”

Minister for Finance Michael McGrath has said businesses impacted by flooding during Storm Babet will receive financial support from next week.

He also stressed that flooding relief will not be capped at the initial figure of €10 million pledged by the Government. “We do recognise that there will be a need to go beyond the existing parameters of that scheme which currently involves a cap of €20,000 per business premises,” he said.

“It will take some time to fully assess the scale of the damage and costs associated with that. We are still at a dangerous point. We are still at risk of further flooding happening so we are not at the end of this yet.

“The money [for businesses] will begin to be paid to people from next week. The Red Cross have considerable experience of administering the scheme. So once we decide on final enhancements to the scheme the Red Cross will open up their communication channel immediately with businesses,” he added.

On plans for a new flood-defence scheme for Midleton, Mr McGrath said a planning application for a comprehensive scheme for the town would be lodged in the “first quarter” of next year. However, there was no guaranteed timeframe. He said delays in such schemes had been “primarily in the statutory processes, objections, and then court challenges”.

While he could not put a final price tag on it, he said the scheme would cost at least €50 million.

[ Cork floods: ‘We couldn’t stop the water – it was coming too fast. It was coming in waves’ ]

Some shop owners in Midleton are facing repair costs of up to €500,000, according to one estimate.

To add to the crisis, small and medium-sized businesses may have had Christmas stock destroyed during the weather event that caught many by surprise on Wednesday.

Eleanor Dunlea, who runs Lollipop Kids shoe shop in Midleton, said she had been due to go on holiday to Lanzarote on Friday morning, but instead was knee deep in a clean up operation at her premises.

“All I want to do is open my business. I love my business and I love my job and I love the smile of the people coming in to me,” she said.

Midleton GP Dr Mike Thompson said a “significant” financial injection for businesses in the east Cork town is needed.

The roads in the town are “just rivers of mud,” he told RTÉ Radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.

He said three out of the six medical practices in Midleton were not operating. On Thursday there had been a sense of bonding in the town, but on Friday “the harsh reality and the financial worries that we’re going to face is becoming apparent”.

“I certainly think there’ll be lots of businesses that won’t come back from this unless we get significant support from central Government,” he said.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said the Government will fund all necessary repairs to two Midleton healthcare facilities damaged by flooding. Speaking in Galway on Friday, he said the damage caused to Midleton Hospital and Owenacurra mental health facility during the storm would be addressed.

Moyagh Murdock, the chief executive of Insurance Ireland, expressed sympathy with home and business owners in Midleton and other areas of Cork devastated by flooding.

Her comments followed criticism of a lack cover for those in areas, including Midleton, that have experience previous flooding events.

Insurance companies have already received a number of claims in the aftermath of this week’s storm.

“They understand this is going to be a major event,” Ms Murdock said. “Insurers, unfortunately, have experience in these types of major events and they are standing up additional staff to assist consumers and process claims as quickly as possible.”

Insurance Ireland has explained that because flooding has become virtually inevitable in some areas, policies cannot be offered to those likely to be hit.

“In relation to Midleton and other areas that have suffered flood events this week, we understand that Government has stepped in and will provide financial support to people in these areas,” Ms Murdock said.